Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Let Our Farmers Grow

Guest perspective by Ralph Nader

Although Rep. Paul has introduced several bills like this
one in the past, there are several reasons that this bill should be passed now.
Hemp has an amazing number of uses. Its fiber can be used in carpeting, home
furnishings, construction materials, auto parts, textiles, and paper. Its seeds
can be used in food, industrial oils, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. There are
assertions, reported by The Guardian and in Biodiesel Magazine that using
industrial hemp in biofuels instead of crops like corn and other feedstock
provide greater environmental benefits. The expansion of industrial hemp as a
feedstock for biofuels could also help to reduce oil imports.

Not only does hemp have a wide range of uses, but its
cultivation in the United States could help to spur our lagging economy. Since
the cultivation of hemp is outlawed in the United States, the U.S. market for
hemp and hemp-based products is entirely dependent upon imports. A 2010
Congressional Research Service report cited an estimate that the U.S. market
for hemp-based products may exceed $350 million annually.

A ban on the agricultural production of hemp simply
doesn’t make sense. Farmers in places like Iowa could benefit greatly from the
production of industrial hemp. In a crippling recession, unemployed Americans
could receive a boost from such an emerging industry, from farm to value-added
businesses. And many firms here in the United States that sell hemp-based
products would reap the benefits. Currently they import their hemp from places
like Canada, China, or France, which can increase their costs from 10 to 15
percent or more. As the only remaining developed nation in which the production
of industrial hemp is not permitted, the United States is not only missing out
on a large – and growing – global market, but limiting the livelihoods of
farmers, processors and fabricators.

Industrial hemp could benefit our environment greatly. A
range of studies have shown the benefits: hemp can thrive with minimal – or
even without – herbicides, it reinvigorates the soil, and it requires less
water than crops like cotton. Furthermore, it could prevent the deforestation
of large portions of the U.S. landscape and presents significant benefits
compared with wood in the production of paper. Industrial hemp matures in three
to four months. It takes years for trees to grow. It can also yield four times
as much paper per acre as trees.

Critics of industrial hemp may point to its relation to
marijuana in order to claim that if one smokes industrial hemp, they can become
high. Although industrial hemp and marijuana share the same species, cannabis
sativa, industrial hemp is genetically and chemically different. Industrial
hemp, at most, contains one third of 1 percent THC, the drug that produces a
psychoactive effect in marijuana. However, marijuana is often between 10 and 30
percent THC. Smoking industrial hemp will not make an individual high.

The DEA will claim that growing industrial hemp next to
marijuana may serve to impede law enforcement against the latter. However,
countries that have legal cultivation of industrial hemp do not have similar
problems. Furthermore, since industrial hemp has such little THC, growing it
next to marijuana would only serve to dilute by cross pollinations the illegal
marijuana plants – something no marijuana grower wants.

Industrial hemp has a distinguished history in this
country dating before the revolution and its founding. The Declaration of
Independence was drafted on hemp paper and George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson grew industrial hemp on their farms. During World War II, hemp was
used to make very strong rope and the Department of Agriculture made a film,
“Hemp for Victory” to encourage its cultivation.

Despite the importance of this issue, we rarely see it
discussed in the headlines or by political candidates. Farmers in Iowa could
benefit greatly from the cultivation of industrial hemp. Citizens in Iowa, who
have the ear of presidential hopefuls, have an opportunity to move this issue
back into the spotlight during the December 10th Republican Presidential
Primary debate.

Let’s hope Congressman Paul and his fellow candidates
agree that it is time to allow farmers in Iowa and other states to once again start
growing industrial hemp.

Thank you for visiting

I'm Tony Schinella, an award-winning newspaper editor/journalist and radio broadcaster, currently living in Concord, N.H. This profile links to a number of my blogs including Politizine.com, the Taste the Floor radio program website, OurConcord.com, as well as media analysis and an analysis of the 2000 election. Opinions and comments are my own and not those of my employer. Feel free to participate. Email: politizine-at-yahoo.com. Copyright, 2002-2017, Tony Schinella

Winner, Media Award, from the Concord Grange #322 on April 30, 2012, for work with Concord NH Patch. It was the Grange's first ever media award. "No matter what it is, (Tony's) out covering it. He's honest ... he tells the truth and he doesn't fudge it, no matter what," Dick Patten, Concord Grange. View the video clip from the event by clicking here.

Winner, five New England Newspaper & Press Association awards for 2010 including third place award for General Excellence; second place award for Local Election Coverage; second and third place awards, in separate class divisions, for Educational Reporting; and second place for Overall Design, for work with the Belmont Citizen-Herald and WickedLocalBelmont.com.

"Tony Schinella is one of New England’s journalistic gems – a reporter’s reporter and sharp observer of anything that sparks his interest." - David Bernstein, political reporter, the Boston Phoenix

Finalist, Best of Gatehouse 2008 Newspaper of the Year [Non-daily], Belmont Citizen-Herald.

Winner, 2007 Appreciation Award from the Concord Pineconia Grange for work with non-profit groups and community service.

Winner, 2005 New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters Golden Mike Award in the Feature Story category for "Trains," an audio feature about the Hooksett Lions Club Model Train Event, for WKXL 1450 news radio.

On problems with talk radio, from a column published in The Winchester Star: "Schinella has written a worthwhile column on the demise of talk radio." - Dan Kennedy, The Boston Phoenix, Dec. 6, 2002.

On the lack of local talent in the Boston talk radio market: "[Schinella's] a bright, articulate guy, and he espouses a hard-edged political view that's seldom heard these days." - Dan Kennedy, The Boston Phoenix, "The Death of Talk Radio," May 8, 1997.